Performance Goals are Useful, but Learning Goals Transform
Performance goals are useful, but learning goals transform. Learning goals target development. Performance goals emphasize achievement.
The more you learn, the more you achieve. There are three factors in becoming a high performer, learning, unlearning, and relearning.
A leader told me he was learning a lot. I asked, “What are you learning?” He couldn’t name one thing. If you don’t know what you’re learning, you’re confused.
AI generated image. 10/22/2024
Set learning goals that matter:
Define the contribution you aspire to make. Explore ways to contribute more effectively. Suppose you want to be a person who energizes others. Keep learning new ways to bring energy to others.
Clarify your aspirations. Perhaps you aspire to corporate leadership. Learn skills that enable you to pursue achievement goals.
Learn from experience:
“The only thing more painful than learning from experience is not learning from experience.” Anon.
- Record learnings in a journal.
- Reflect on failure by asking, “What could I do differently next time?”
- Reflect on success by asking, “What actions produce the best results?”
- Try stuff and adapt as you go. “What else could I try?”
- Teach others. The teacher learns more than the student. “This is how you….”
Becoming is better than being:
“The successful man (person) admits that there is more pleasure in work than in having secured the rewards of it—that becoming is better than being—since possibility marks the one and finality seals the other.” Sir Thomas Oliver
Challenge teaches you who you might become. Seek discomfort. Do hard things. Fail responsibly.
Tip: Feed curiosity. Einstein said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence.”
What are some useful learning goals?
Still curious:
Dear Dan: How Do You Keep Learning
How We Really Learn to Lead
